My interview with CGTN on Huawei’s investment plans in the UK
This interview discusses a June 2020 planning decision by a local council in the south of England on whether or not to approve an application by Huawei to open a site for research and development. This decision, which usually would have attracted relatively little attention, became yet another flashpoint in the Trump administration’s relentless campaign against the Chinese technology giant.
In this interview, I provide some context to the decision, to the planned R&D center, and to the impact of the U.S. campaign against Huawei on UK politics.
Interestingly enough, this kind of thing was an area I focused on quite heavily in my last 12 to 18 months working at Huawei, as more and more countries adopted investment screening mechanisms or tightened existing review procedures on inbound investment, particularly into the technology sector. This is something that Joachim Pohl at the OECD has done quite a bit of really sound research on.
The irony for Huawei was that most of this inbound FDI was more than welcome in the local communities and by the host State governments, since it stimulated the local economy and helped seed and grow local talent in the technology sector.